Germany and Ivory Coast aim to seal World Cup knockout place: All to know
Team news, prediction, and lineups as Germany and Ivory Coast meet in Group E aiming to secure last-32 qualification. Who: Germany vs Ivory Coast What
Team news, prediction, and lineups as Germany and Ivory Coast meet in Group E aiming to secure last-32 qualification. Who: Germany vs Ivory Coast What: FIFA World Cup 2026 Group E match Where: Toronto Stadium, Toronto, Canada When: Saturday, 4pm (20:00 GMT) How to follow: Keep up with all updates on Al Jazeera Sport One of the most mouthwatering matches in the second round of games in the World Cup 2026 group stage sees four-time champions Germany facing a talented Ivory Coast outfit in Toronto on Saturday evening. Both sides made a winning start to their Group E campaign, in very different ways, as Die Mannschaft overcame an early scare against Curacao to romp to a 7-1 win, while The Elephants eventually pipped Ecuador 1-0 with a last-gasp goal, after the South Americans had hit the woodwork three times. Germany under the radar? After disappointing group-stage exits in 2018 and 2022, Germany came into this tournament somewhat under the radar, with the perennial powerhouse ranked only seventh-favourites to lift their fifth World Cup. While they turned on the style thanks to young stars like Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz to pile on the goals against Curacao – the smallest nation by size and population ever to have taken part in a World Cup – and the goals have flowed in 10 straight wins, this will be a far stiffer test. Curacao caused the German defence a few problems, especially in the opening half-hour, and it’s their pivotal central-defensive pairing of Jonathan Tah and Nico Schlotterbeck, playing in front of 40-year-old keeper Manuel Neuer, that will ultimately decide how deep the Germans can go in this tournament. Dynamic Arsenal attacking midfielder Kai Havertz continued his recent goalscoring run for club and country with a double for Germany in the opening game, but he will likely find the Ivory Coast defence a harder challenge than that posed by Curacao’s backline.
By winning their group opener, Germany did what they couldn’t in 2018 and 2022 and appear certain to progress to a first knockout match since the 2014 World Cup Final. Whether they advance as group winners, or limp through in the minor places, might well come down to the result in Toronto. A win against Ivory Coast would secure direct top-two qualification to the Round of 32 and would likely be enough to top Group E should Ecuador fail to beat Curacao four hours later in Kansas City. In an alternate scenario, even with a German victory against Ivory Coast, Ecuador – if they can beat both Curacao and then the Germans in Thursday’s group finale – would make things very interesting, with the potential for three teams – Germany, Ivory Coast and Ecuador – to be locked on six points and tiebreakers needed to separate them. It matters because the team finishing first will play a third-placed qualifier, while the runner-up will face the team finishing second in the group featuring France, Norway, Senegal and Iraq, and the team qualifying third would face a group winner, potentially England or Mexico. Pivotal match as Ivory Coast seek history The Elephants might have ridden their luck, but ending Ecuador’s 19-match unbeaten streak across nearly two years in their opening game caught the eye of their fan base and will have raised expectations. Amad Diallo’s last-minute winner ensured Ivory Coast have now won a game at all four World Cups for which they have qualified, and they can reach the knockout stages for the first time, if they defeat Germany. In fact, they can seal top spot in Group E should they beat Die Mannschaft and Ecuador fail to beat Curacao in the other group game later on Saturday evening. A draw against Germany would make for an intriguing group finale on Thursday night, as it would likely leave all three teams in with a chance of finishing first going into the final game, with Ivory Coast potentially needing to beat Curacao by more than six goals to ensure supremacy on goal difference.
The BriefWire